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MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki Breaks Down Surge In Latino Voters Who Think Immigration Hurts Country

[Screenshot/MSNBC]

MSNBC national political correspondent Steve Kornacki on Monday broke down the rise in Latino voters supporting Republican nominee Donald Trump as they believe immigration does more harm than good.

Trump currently holds 40% support among Latino voters and leads by 13 points on the issue of immigration, carrying a higher percentage of support among Latino supporters than any other Republican nominee since former President George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004, Kornacki pointed out during a segment on “Chris Jansing Reports.” The percentage of Latinos believing immigration “hurts more than it helps” rose from 16% in 2016 to 35% in 2024, indicating the demographic’s changing perception on the issue.

Latino support for Republicans dropped from 44% for Bush to 31% for then-Republican nominee John McCain in 2008. That support then dropped to 27% for then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney during the 2012 election.

“On the question of who would deal better with the issue of immigrant and the border, Latino voters by double digits are saying Donald Trump in our poll. And take a look, too, a shift in our poll on broader attitudes among Latino voters on the topic of immigration. Here’s sort of a baseline question, ‘Do you think that immigration helps the United States more than it hurts or hurts the United States more than it helps? We asked this 8 years ago back in 2016, 69% says it helps more, 16% said it hurts more.”

“These numbers have changed a bit, now down to 62% of Latino voters who say immigration helps more than it hurts, and up to 35%, a little bit more than 1 out of 3, say that it hurts more than it helps,” Kornacki continued.

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Latino voters have left the Democratic Party in droves since 2012, with many having shifted to the Republican Party, Kornacki showed. The percentage of Latino voters identifying as Democrats decreased from 62% in 2012 to 49% in 2024, while the percentage of that demographic registering as Republican rose from 21% in 2012 to 37%.

“In ’16, ’20, and ’24, look at that. That number has ticked up from 20%, now to 37%. That Democratic number, again, was at 59% when Trump came on the scene, and is down to 49% today. So the movement among Latino voters has been toward Trump in these last eight years,” Kornacki explained.

Trump is also leading by nine points on inflation and four points on the economy among Latino voters, Kornacki indicated. Harris leads by 17-points on being the most competent and effective candidate and holds a 32-point advantage on abortion.

Kornacki pointed out on Sunday that Trump is leading among Hispanic men over the age of 50 by 57 points, while Harris leads among Hispanic women by 26 points. The Democrat Party’s lead among Hispanic and Latino voters has dropped from 44 points in 2012 to 14 points currently, Kornacki said.

NPR host Maria Hinojosa claimed on Sunday that an increasing number of Hispanic voters are backing Trump because they “want to be white.”